His beautiful lie
by To.Elysium
Summary: When Sasuke is suddenly introduced to his dangerous brother who defies all the rules of their aesthetic obsessed culture, his life spirals into a series of chaotic adventures and unexpected feelings for a crimson eyed entrancer develops. AU.


I will play around with words and the established rules of English grammar. It is an experiment, it is a dance, it is art. Whatever. This is what I will write when I feel histrionic. I can't tell you how to read this, of course but for the appropriate atmosphere the optimum conditions would be inclusive of a frigid cold environment where one resides in complete solitude whereby deafening silence reigns, white is the dominant color, ideally the only color and there is minimal, or ideally, no furniture at all.

Inspiration comes from dramatic Art. Florence and the Machine, Shakespearean soliloquies, the original Alice in wonderland, Spirited away, a most disturbing manga by the curiosity arousing title the Lychee Light Club and most predominantly the movie Perfume.

* * *

><p>Silence is no certain token that no secret grief is there<p>

Sorrow which is never spoken is the heaviest load to bear

* * *

><p>...Prologue...<p>

Of Grace she was mistress. Being taught elegance and eloquence was a craft essential and ingrained since before her individuality had died. Beauty sublime was ubiquitous in the Hidden Land they resided in. And so instilled with servitude but seeking solace in the empty knowledge that she was beautiful no matter what her actions, she poured the boy a quart of orange blossom milk. Indulgent nectar indeed and the boy, too young to understand depravity and obsession that exist within adults, turned his face away sourly.

"Does it displease you, Sasuke?"

A cruel question posed and silence permeated momentarily to be broken not by a verbal reply but the peaceful lull of a dipping bamboo stalk and the bubbling hush of a streaming river. They sat, cross legged on the expanse of lush greenest grass, separated by a finely crafted minimalistic icy cold black marble table as high as their porcelain ankles. The mother and son sharing sweetest ambrosia as their first meal of the day, a heartwarming picture provided that phrase had still meaning left within it but without perspective Literature was mere diction and perspective had long withered away. Their heads were bowed, as they were instructed was proper and glances were infrequent. Eye contact itself seemed indulgent at best and indecent in excess.

The rhetoric was poorly conveyed; the illusion of a right of will was created and Sasuke uttered dangerous words.

"I don't like sweet things."

A false smile ensued, small and sweet. No movement save for delicate raising of the eyes followed. A face was painted, a mask in place. Life was to be conveyed through eyes, which dared to move a fraction to fix upon the boy before her. A girl would be more obedient. The thought was studiously erased; sexism was despicable and a slender hand extended towards the unsuspecting boy, who looked beyond the room they were in. Such temerity was intolerable. On how to instruct the boy as to the rules of his privileged life Mikoto knew not. What lay within her scope were painful memories of how she had been taught and so the actions were repeated and the cycle continued, not even pausing in its motion for fear of non-conformity.

The boy by the beautiful name turned at the touch, rare and icy as it was. Contact with skin was a luxury; contact with flesh was almost unheard of. His endless inexperienced eyes of liquid ebony watched wide the spectacle; his mother touched a finger to his shoulder hidden by the overflowing silk sleeves of her enviable pastel kimono. Also hidden was the glint of hardest silver as the subtle needle pierced his soft tender flesh and the pain resonated. Intentionally, it was a foreboding warning but Sasuke was too young to suppress himself yet and his mind quivered at the sensation, feeling something akin to an emotion he had only managed to, in the dead of the night and in absolute secrecy, read about.

Pleasure.

But on the surface the boy whose thirteenth year had not yet passed was clever enough to keep it hidden. No sound was made at the piercing. This pleased his mother who gave the boy credit for acting as he should.

"Try it." she said sweetly.

The boy moved as graceful as flowing water from the streams of the heavens, ensconcing the pure glass within both his pure white hands whose fingertips met, forming a triangle and raised the glass to his lips, assaulting his tongue with the vile sickly sweet beverage and forced it down his throat with no indication of this internal opposition.

Under brief regular glances the drink was finished and Sasuke was left feeling cold and murderous but pleasant smiles were exchanged and his mother stood elegantly, gesturing for her son to follow suit.

"Your brother inquired about you the other day."

The lightening strike rendered reaction impossible to avoid; Sasuke's eyes widened as he took in the considerable news of which he had previously heard nothing of. That he had such a relation was significant and moreover that his existence was worth asking about had Sasuke instantly curious as to what this person could be like. The boy had only read of brothers; such fantastical tales were cruel in their outlandish plots that spurred on imagination and made this limitation seem austere.

Sasuke remained silent which was to his mothers' favor who rewarded his docile behavior with an invitation.

"I shall take you to see him."

Of questions he had many but he stifled them all. It would not do to irk the woman now, when it was within her means to take away this rare opportunity. A mantra scorning the futile emotion hope was repeated mentally in Sasuke's head; for all intents and purposes it would be nothing but beneficial to him if he were to expect the most boring person in their Hidden land.

::

Ascending the waterfall staircase they came upon a room richly permeated with fragrant floral scents. Endless prosperity was preached by virtue of the pale pink peonies that lavishly decorated the huge space. Within the centre of the room was a tall and fairly wide glass box that was as thick as the trunk of a sycamore.

Approaching the structure, Sasuke took in what it housed, his mother trailing unsettlingly close behind. Its contents were numerous miscellanies all worthy of some devotion; thick fat volumes of ancient and beautifully illustrated manuscripts scattered across the floor and yet...in its' disarray there was a deliberate placing that belied disorder as though everything was preordained. Scrolls of skillfully stroked calligraphy rolled out like monochrome carpets over the deep maroon carpet proper. On the sides of the glass cage were bookshelves counter-intuitively containing gems and baubles and various adornments and bejeweled accessories.

After admiring the shine of the eye-catching crystals, Sasuke finally fixed upon the figure in the centre of the room, completely cut off from the rest of the world. His brother sat cross-legged amongst the books, either too engaged to glance at them or disregarding their presence altogether.

Sasuke couldn't see his face as it was bowed down and obscured by long bangs. Everything else he memorized; the long fair hands that ran under the back of the book concluding in slender curled fingers whose nails were rebelliously painted black as they gently tapped the hardcover of the book like receding waves on a beach in hypnotizing regularity.

The brother had long shiny black hair that reached the middle of his back, held together within the confines of a band. He was dressed in full black which contrasted beautifully with his pale skin tone only revealed from the forearm onwards. Sasuke held in the gasp from the immodesty. The boy was revealing half of his hands and he was wearing a v-neck t-shirt, garb which was rumored to be burnt long ago for its uncultured taste and indecency. Sasuke felt himself secure his silk yukata around his neck in discomfort as he took the shamelessly revealed collarbones of the boy. The v-neck revealed further and just as Sasuke trailed his morbidly curious eyes further down, his brother looked up slowly, catching the boy in the act of his indiscreet perusal.

Those half-lidded slanted eyes curtained by a veil of obsidian eyelashes pierced right through the intelligence centers of his brain, playing pax with the rhythm of his cardiovascular system. His eyes were of a glass ruby hue that captured one's gaze and held on with the tenacity of a constrictor and despite the impropriety of their prolonged eye contact Sasuke could not find it within himself to tear his gaze away.

His brother stood fluidly and unable to pretend he was unaffected Sasuke took a telling step back. The tall boy advanced forward and came right to the edge of the thick glass, his fingers curled around the side of a book he kept by his hip. Sasuke took a further step back daunted by the bold proximity of the boy. His brother was quite unsettling. Perhaps therein lay the reason for his confinement in this isolated paradise.

The boy was stunning in his features and his physique but his forward attitude disturbed Sasuke and found himself somewhat wary of the person supposed to be his brother.

The boy switched his gaze from Sasuke to Mikoto and Sasuke looked to find his mother give a rehearsed upward tilt of her crimson painted lips. The boy was more beautiful than their mother. His neck was long and slender and Sasuke found himself once more staring at his collarbones thinking he understood the need to hide such parts of the anatomy away; there was something extremely intimate about it...What a shameless brother he had.

Forcing himself to look away, he noticed an imperceptible movement of Itachi's fingers as he surreptitiously titled his folded book upwards an inch and slid his index finger across the page to settle on a word for three seconds before moving down to rest on another for a further three seconds. Sasuke glanced at his mother who was looking at Itachi's revealed neck in obvious disapproval and then back to Itachi's finger as it settled on the final word in his covert message to the brother he had never before seen.

_Come alone tonight._

Sasuke's heart thudded wildly against his ribcage. He had not been foolish to hope; the outcome was far more than he had expected. He couldn't believe he had just communicated without his mother's knowledge even though she was right before him! Sasuke kept himself in check, hardly daring to breathe for fear that his brother or he would be exposed. This was...exciting.

Sasuke found the boy looking at him once again and he swallowed a gasp. The boy really had no regard for boundaries. Their mother pursed her lips ever so slightly and spoke.

Sasuke felt himself releasing a breath he knew not that he was holding in. It came as a relief when the striking silence had been broken.

"Cover yourself. This appearance is unseemly."

Itachi showed no sign of having heard her. His flawless features remained superbly apathetic. He closed his eyes in what seemed like tired disappointment and turned away, walking back towards the nest of books.

"Can he hear us?" Sasuke asked, in a hushed tone of voice.

Mikoto turned her back on her son, prepared to leave. "He can. Come, Sasuke, let us go."

In walking behind his mother, Sasuke could not resist turning back to glance at the enigmatic young boy, who was once more pouring over tiny scripture.

Sasuke risked just one more question. "Why is he inside that glass box?"

Mikoto considered before answering. "My firstborn is...special. His beauty is such that it was decided that he would be contained there till our Lord Pein decrees otherwise."

Sasauke nodded solemnly as if he understood perfectly. He could hardly wait for nightfall. When the moon was out and it started to emit its ethereal glow and sing its' wordless song that indicated the deepest part of night, Sasuke would sneak off and come back to visit his brother.

:: ::

Review? I need to know if it is good. Worth continuing?


End file.
